If the Minnesota Timberwolves are able to persuade LeBron James to sign with them for next season, it would mean a lot of things to the fan base. First and foremost, it would improve the team’s chances of winning a championship, or at least help Minnesota reach its first-ever NBA Finals.
It would also feel very rewarding if a high-profile outside free agent picked their club. Now 37 years old as a franchise, the Timberwolves haven’t been able to procure stars in free agency. LeBron picking the Wolves would finally mean that one of the top players wants to join them.
Timberwolves have mostly struck out on signing outside free agentsÂ
It’s a tough endeavor to come up with the best free agent that has ever come to the Wolves from an outside team. Players such as Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell, Jimmy Butler, and Tom Gugliotta were traded to Minnesota, not signed by them.
Point guards Terry Porter and Rod Strickland signed with the Wolves when their careers were on the downturn. Chauncey Billups is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, but when he signed with Minnesota back in 2000, he had averaged 12.7 points and 3.7 assists over just 58 appearances in the previous two years with the Denver Nuggets.
Arguably, the best player (at the time) to ever sign as an outside free agent with the Timberwolves is a well-known name to Wolves fans, but not necessarily for his play on the court. That player is Joe Smith.
The first overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, Smith had averages of 16.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in three years prior to signing with the Wolves in 1998. While not spectacular numbers, Smith joined the Timberwolves on what was seen as a below-market deal.Â
Well, it was later found out that the Timberwolves promised a lucrative deal to Smith if he signed for a lesser value to start his tenure with the club. The team was penalized by being stripped of five future first-round picks (eventually reduced to three).
Otherwise, Andrei Kirilenko played overseas for a year before joining the Timberwolves, but he was a few years past his best seasons with the Utah Jazz. Brandon Roy retired for a year due to knee troubles and tried coming back with Minnesota, but he lasted only five games before calling off the comeback.
Mike Miller averaged 17.4 points in his last two years with the Memphis Grizzlies before signing with Minnesota in 2008, but those Memphis teams were terrible.
Being Smith was just 23 years old and a recent first overall selection in the draft, he probably takes the cake as the Wolves’ all-time most notable outside free agent signing in team history at the time of joining the club.
With the complete lack of star power that the team has secured in free agency during their history, you can see why it would mean so much for the fans to see LeBron sign with the Timberwolves. In recent years, the Timberwolves have transformed their franchise, and signing LeBron would be the perfect way to signify just how much they've grown.
Add us as a preferred source on Google